Process of tumbling and polishing flat articles



April 22 1924.

F. A. FULLER PROCESS OF TUMBLING AND POLISHING FLAT ARTICLES Original Filed April 29 1920 mm g wk??? fiwd QWW Patented Apr. 22, 1924.

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FRANZ A. FULLER, 0F NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

PROCESS OF T'UMBLING AND POLISHING FLAT ARTICLES.

Original application filed April 29, 1920, Serial No. 377,437. Divided and this applicationfiledDecember To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANZ A. FULLER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Tumbling and Polishing Flat Articles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in process for tumbling and polishing fiat metallic article, either of unitary or hingedly connected sectional construction such for instance as the frames for folding bags and the like.

The main object of the invention is in the provision of a process whereby both sides and the exterior edges of a plurality of such articles may have imparted to them a. smooth and highly polished Surface finish, resembling burnishing, collectively and simultaneously, by mutual attrition, in the presence of a liquid and with or without the use of abrasives.

A tumbling drum suitable for carrying out the above process is claimed in my copending application, Serial Number 377,437, filed April 29th, 1920, and further illustrated in the accompanying drawing, forming a material part of the present disclosure, and in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a tumbling drum as used in the process, shown in a closed position.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary perspective View of the same, shown in an open position and indicating the manner of entering articles in the compartments of the drum.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view of the same.

A drum of conventional design, preferably hexagonal in cross section is used in carry ing out the process, the same having ends 10 from the centers of which project axles or pintles 11 arranged to be rotatably mounted in suitable bearings, one of the pintles being provided with a driving means.

Secured rigidly to several of the adjacent edges of the heads or ends 10 are plates 12 forming a semi-circumferential casing, and engaged by hinges 13 is a cover formed of similar and supplementary plates 14., the plate opposite the hinge, that is the foremost plate, being provided with some form of catch or fastener elements engageable by Serial No. 682,908.

mating elements 15 carried on the adjacent fixed plate 12.

Arranged at uniformly spaced distances within the drum are a series of transverse partitions 16 having between them chambers or compartments 17 of such width as is most suitable to contain the work parts, designated by the numeral 18, and a series of openlngs 19 are formed through all the plates as shown, thus permitting a. free circulation of liquid, from the tank in which the drum is mounted, to each of the compartments.

It is essential in polishing articles composed of hinged sections, that the width of the compartments 17 be less than the length of the shortest section of the article in order to prevent it from folding against its mating section and thus preclude the proper presentation of all exterior surfaces to the abrading effects of mutual attrition, enhanced, if preferred, by some form of extraneous abrasives.

In operation each compartment has placed in it a plurality of work parts, each in an extended or open condition, and so loosely packed as to be free to constantly move from one position to another as the drum is rotated in the presence of liquid, the drum being flooded by immersion in a. tank.

This process is found in practice to effect a very considerable saving by dispensing with hand labor as ordinarily employed in polishing, in avoiding breakage and distortion of parts and in the attainment of exceptionally satisfactory results in the appearance of work parts as produced by it.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The process of polishing fiat articles comprising two sections hinged along one of their sides, consisting in providing a rotary container, having transverse partitions providing spaces of sufiicient radial dimensions to receive said articles in an extended condition and so restricted axially of the container as to prevent substantial folding of said sections, placing the articles in said spaces and rotating the container in a fluid medium.

2. The process of polishing fiat articles comprising two sections hinged along one of their sides, consisting in providing a permensions of the articles as extended and a distance between its walls less than the 15 length of the shortest articulated member of the articles, immersing the container in a tank containing a liquid, and rotating the container upon its axis within said tank.

This specification signed and witnessed this 26th day of December, 1923.

FRANZ A. FULLER. Witnesses:

FREDK G. Frscnnu, ALLEN B. UNDERHILL. 

